OSPAR Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)
Part of
OSPAR's biodiversity strategy is
to establish a system of marine protected areas (OSPAR MPA
Programme).
To achieve this, OSPAR undertook an initial review of existing
marine protected areas (MPAs) in the OSPAR maritime area.
Guidelines
(PDF, 58kb) for the selection and management of MPAs were then
developed and adopted in 2003 before developing the scope and aims
for a network of marine protected areas. These are intended
to contribute both to protection of threatened species and
habitats and to the conservation of areas which best represent the
range of species, habitats and ecological processes in the OSPAR
area. The OSPAR commission agreed in 2003 that a network of MPAs,
according to the criteria and guidelines it adopted should be
developed by 2010 and has written
recommendations
(PDF, 48kb) for how to go about this. Contracting parties are
currently in the process of identifying and submitting initial sets
of sites to the Commission.
JNCC has been closely involved in all aspects of this work, in
conjunction with Defra. In particular JNCC has led the development
of the concept of what would consitutue a network of well-managed
MPAs. A series of
principles (PDF, 24kb)
for this have been agreed.